Create .tar.gz2, .rar and .ace directly from shell-extension menu

[tormen]

Hi.

Are there plans to include one of or all of the following formats for archive-creation:

tar.bz2 DIRECTLY from the context (shell extension) menu

.rar at all (and from the context (shell extension) menu
.ace at all (and from the context (shell extension) menu

As I was using .rar I would like to change, but only if I can also create .rar files.

Greetings,

tormen.

[klumy]

RAR and ACE are licensed formats.

no chance to integrate them in PA

[Ricco]

Actually other than WinRAR and WinACE themselves, no other archivers provide creation (Extraction support is provided free-of-charge) on these two formats. They’re licensed formats and ConeXware would be charged for the license fee if PA supports these formats. It can result in the increase of PA price (only if PA really integrates these support).

[jowood]

license.txt from unrar source package v2.0:

 ******    *****   ******   unRAR - free utility for RAR archives
 **   **  **   **  **   **  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 ******   *******  ******    License for use and distribution of
 **   **  **   **  **   **   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 **   **  **   **  **   **         FREE portable version
                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      The source code of unRAR utility is freeware. This means:

   1\. All copyrights to RAR and the utility unRAR are exclusively
      owned by the author - Eugene Roshal.

   2\. Anyone may use the utility unRAR and it's source code to handle
      archive files created with the RAR archiver without limitations.

   3\. The unRAR utility may be freely distributed, provided the 
      distribution package is not modified.  No person or company 
      may charge a fee for the distribution of unRAR without written
      permission from the copyright holder.

   4\. THE RAR ARCHIVER AND THE UNRAR UTILITY ARE DISTRIBUTED "AS IS".
      NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND IS EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.  YOU USE AT 
      YOUR OWN RISK. THE AUTHOR WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DATA LOSS, 
      DAMAGES, LOSS OF PROFITS OR ANY OTHER KIND OF LOSS WHILE USING
      OR MISUSING THIS SOFTWARE.

   5\. Installing and using the unRAR utility signifies acceptance of
      these terms and conditions of the license.

   6\. If you don't agree with terms of the license you must remove
      unRAR files from your storage devices and cease to use the
      utility.

      Thank you for your interest in RAR and unRAR.

                                            Eugene Roshal

```So if you read the unrar sources and if you understand how the decompressor works you can easily write a RAR compatible compressor to create RAR 2.x archives without paying any license fees. The RAR format itself (as any other archive format) and the compression algorithm (lzh) are not copyright protected. There are also some archivers out in the world which can create RAR (and ACE) archives.

[Ricco]

Well… you should notice the License.txt from WinRAR…

here comes the quote

Neither RAR binary code, WinRAR binary code, UnRAR source or UnRAR
binary code may be used or reverse engineered to re-create the RAR
compression algorithm, which is proprietary, without written
permission of the author.

[Ricco]

And may I know which archivers support the creation of RAR and ACE? I’m interested in that.

[jowood]

@Ricco:

Well… you should notice the License.txt from WinRAR…

here comes the quote

This was added in last versions of WinRAR and UnRAR (3.x) but it does not affect the previous versions of license.txt (2.x).

@Ricco:

And may I know which archivers support the creation of RAR and ACE? I’m interested in that.

Sure. Squeez (archiver), SpeedCommander and The Next Tool (file managers with great archive support).

[Ricco]

Thanks! But actually how is the efficiency of RAR v2.x when compared it with V3.x?

[Ricco]

I’ve tried creating RAR using Squeez. It’s quite nice though not V3.x. Hope ConeXware could consider supporting it.

[jowood]

@Ricco:

Thanks! But actually how is the efficiency of RAR v2.x when compared it with V3.x?

RAR 2.x is much better than ZIP and today nearly everyone can extract RAR files.

IIRC RAR 3.x offers better compression for text files (PPMD) and for RGB files (delta coder).

[cds333]

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